A High Court bench yesterday questioned the legality of the much-talked-about Section 57 of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act. The bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal issued a rule upon the government to explain in four weeks as to why the section should not be declared unconstitutional. The secretaries to the ministries of ICT, home and information have been made respondents to the rule. The order came in response to a petition moved by eleven eminent citizens challenging the legality of the provision that has drawn criticism from different quarters of the society. The section goes against the constitutional provision of freedom of expression and equality before law and right to life, petitioner’s counsel Jyotirmoy Barua told the court during hearing. He said the section concerned has been created in the light of India’s Information Technology Act. The Indian Supreme Court later found that unconstitutional. India scrapped the section on March 24 this year. “Therefore, Section 57 of the ICT Act of Bangladesh should be abolished,” Jyotirmoy Barua argued. Deputy Attorney General Motahar Hossain Sazu defended the section and said that a separate bench of the High Court had scrapped a similar writ petition earlier while another bench is scheduled to hear a similar petition today. In this situation, this writ petition filed by 11 citizens should not be moved, he argued. There is no legal bar in application of the Section 57 as the High Court has not yet stayed its application, the deputy attorney general told The Daily Star. The 11 petitioners are: Dhaka University teachers Ahmed Kamal, Gitiara Nasreen, Fahmidul Haque, Tanzimuddin Khan and Samina Lutfa and former DU teacher Akmal Hussain, Jahangirnagar University teacher Anu Muhammad, Bam Morcha (left alliance) leader Abdus Salam, singer and writer Arup Rahi, writer Rakhal Raha and Biplobi Workers’ Party General Secretary Saiful Huq. Meanwhile, another High Court bench yesterday fixed today (Wednesday) to pass its order on a separate writ petition that also challenged the legality of the Section 57. The HC bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo set the date after hearing arguments on the petition moved by Zakir Hossain, an accused in a case filed under the section. The petitioner’s lawyer Imran Siddique told the court that Section 57 is unconstitutional since it has given unfettered discretion to the administration. Attorney General Mahbubey Alam opposed the petition, saying that the section was consistent with relevant provisions of the constitution. According to Section 57, if any person deliberately publishes or transmits false, obscene and derogatory information in a website or in any other electronic form, he or she will be sentenced to seven to 14 years imprisonment and fined with maximum Tk one crore. Though rights activists have been critical about Section 57 from the beginning, the debate over it and demand for its repeal intensified following the recent arrest of journalist Probir Sikdar.
Source: The Daily Star
